Is my Jack Russell lactose intolerant?

Dogs don't always agree with milk

Milk and dairy products contain a sugar called lactose, and in the digestive system an enzyme called lactase is required to break it down.

Some dogs cannot produce lactase in their gut, and are therefore lactose intolerant. You can tell if your Jack Russell is lactose intolerant if it gets diarrhoea after ingesting milk, cheese, or any other dairy product.

When a dog is born, its lactase production is at a lifetime high because of its need to drink its mother's breast milk. After weaning, this production falls by about 10%. Also, dog breast milk has just over half the lactose percentage that cow's milk does (3.1% versus 4.5-5%).

Milk is an excellent source of high-quality protein and calcium, but these can be found elsewhere in other foods that it's less common for your dog's digestive system to disagree with.

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